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another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores
Posted: June 19th, 2021, 7:43 pm
by philipjfry2
today we went to the safeway store on 39th and powell in portland, and the first thing i noticed was the lighting was a lot harsher and brighter expecially over the aisles. so i looked up at the center store fixtures and the diffusing louvers in them were gone, and the lights were basically glarebombs and the smaller troffers have been replaced with other style troffers , the center store fixtures were made to have the louvers in them, plus it makes the store look really cheap and ugly, and you just abbout need sunglasses to walk down the aisles now, sso my question is why could they not use the plug and play led tubes in the fixtures and keep the diffusers on them
Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores
Posted: June 20th, 2021, 11:48 am
by storewanderer
The same thing you described was done to the Safeway in Sparks, NV with its lighting last year but it only bothers me in certain parts of the store. For some reason it is particularly noticeable over around the pharmacy area and aisles in front of it. I have no clue why- lower height aisles? It really hurts my eyes. I suspect if I stuck around for long it would cause a headache, but have opted not to test if that would happen or not.
I have not encountered any other locations with the lighting changes that have this effect on me- the brightness all looks the same.
Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores
Posted: June 20th, 2021, 3:06 pm
by Alpha8472
Does anyone remember during the Enron energy crisis when they turned out half the lights in stores due to a supposed energy shortage? Even with half of the lights out, the stores were still bright enough. These new LED lights are much stronger. They need to take out half of the rows of lights and it will still be bright. Or they could put covers over the lights, but that would cost more. The Safeway near me that opened in 2016 with LED lights have a single row of LED tubes. This is because the LEDs are so much brighter.
Also LED lights have more blue light in them. Blue light causes eye strain. There are many blue blocking coatings that can be added to eyeglasses now, that really help to reduce eye strain.
Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores
Posted: June 20th, 2021, 5:59 pm
by ClownLoach
storewanderer wrote: ↑June 20th, 2021, 11:48 am
The same thing you described was done to the Safeway in Sparks, NV with its lighting last year but it only bothers me in certain parts of the store. For some reason it is particularly noticeable over around the pharmacy area and aisles in front of it. I have no clue why- lower height aisles? It really hurts my eyes. I suspect if I stuck around for long it would cause a headache, but have opted not to test if that would happen or not.
I have not encountered any other locations with the lighting changes that have this effect on me- the brightness all looks the same.
They've been doing this around SoCal as well, usually in conjunction with the repainted "Colorful Lifestyle" remodel (where literally nothing is done to the existing lifestyle decor except painting the yellow walls other colors). Saw this in Long Beach, Santa Ana and San Juan Capistrano. If there are any diffusers on the light fixtures they're ripped off leaving bare bulbs. What is so strange about this is it doesn't actually increase lighting, it just adds glare and looks tacky - and fixtures with those nice diffusers cost much more than bare bulb fixtures. Ridiculous waste of money.
Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores
Posted: June 20th, 2021, 7:07 pm
by babs
Isn't calling it a "disaster" a bit extreme? I doubt most people really notice the lighting. I'm not a fan of tube lighting strips in some retail stores but it hasn't made walk out.
Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores
Posted: June 20th, 2021, 7:15 pm
by retailfanmitchell019
ClownLoach wrote: ↑June 20th, 2021, 5:59 pm
They've been doing this around SoCal as well, usually in conjunction with the repainted "Colorful Lifestyle" remodel (where literally nothing is done to the existing lifestyle decor except painting the yellow walls other colors). Saw this in Long Beach, Santa Ana and San Juan Capistrano.
I'm surprised San Juan Capistrano is still open. I suspect it will be rebranded to Albertsons in a few years, as Albertsons has a stronger presence in Orange County (especially South OC).
Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores
Posted: June 20th, 2021, 10:54 pm
by ClownLoach
retailfanmitchell019 wrote: ↑June 20th, 2021, 7:15 pm
ClownLoach wrote: ↑June 20th, 2021, 5:59 pm
They've been doing this around SoCal as well, usually in conjunction with the repainted "Colorful Lifestyle" remodel (where literally nothing is done to the existing lifestyle decor except painting the yellow walls other colors). Saw this in Long Beach, Santa Ana and San Juan Capistrano.
I'm surprised San Juan Capistrano is still open. I suspect it will be rebranded to Albertsons in a few years, as Albertsons has a stronger presence in Orange County (especially South OC).
When I saw they were remodeling, I mean repainting, I thought they'd change the sign to Albertsons since it's the last Vons branded store in the South OC market. But they left it alone. Surprisingly there are still a few people who are oblivious to the fact that Albertsons owns Vons.
Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores
Posted: June 20th, 2021, 11:27 pm
by storewanderer
babs wrote: ↑June 20th, 2021, 7:07 pm
Isn't calling it a "disaster" a bit extreme? I doubt most people really notice the lighting. I'm not a fan of tube lighting strips in some retail stores but it hasn't made walk out.
The Safeway lifestyle store lighting was carefully designed to make the store feel more upscale, specifically highlight certain fresh products (spotlights), and make the departments feel intimate and exclusive, but also realize energy cost savings for the stores.
I thought they were too dark and many even felt dingy, especially as certain displays started getting moved around, floors started to get shot, fixtures worn, etc.
However Albertsons took the lighting straight back to the 80's and that really was not a great thing.
All they needed to do was up the brightness in the existing Lifestyle Store lighting (keeping the same fixtures).
Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores
Posted: June 21st, 2021, 9:22 am
by Super S
storewanderer wrote: ↑June 20th, 2021, 11:27 pm
babs wrote: ↑June 20th, 2021, 7:07 pm
Isn't calling it a "disaster" a bit extreme? I doubt most people really notice the lighting. I'm not a fan of tube lighting strips in some retail stores but it hasn't made walk out.
The Safeway lifestyle store lighting was carefully designed to make the store feel more upscale, specifically highlight certain fresh products (spotlights), and make the departments feel intimate and exclusive, but also realize energy cost savings for the stores.
I thought they were too dark and many even felt dingy, especially as certain displays started getting moved around, floors started to get shot, fixtures worn, etc.
However Albertsons took the lighting straight back to the 80's and that really was not a great thing.
All they needed to do was up the brightness in the existing Lifestyle Store lighting (keeping the same fixtures).
Safeway is a chain I normally avoid due to their pricing. With that said, I do stop in about once or twice a year. A few days ago was one of those times. I did notice that they converted the whole store to LED, but kept the same fixtures (including the cheap reflector fixtures over produce) but the main aisle fixtures did have the covers in place.
I do wonder if they are holding off on major changes until future remodels though.
It seems unclear what direction Safeway/Albertsons is going, and the COVID situation has had impacts, but I am curious if some of the features in the new Boise area stores are going to make their way into the Safeway banner stores. But I will say that a lot of the Safeway and Albertsons stores in Oregon and Washington are well over 10 years since a major remodel, many of the "Lifestyle" features have been downplayed, and the present state of many of their stores (particularly Safeway) does not justify a higher price point.
Re: another lighting disaster coming to portland safeway stores
Posted: June 23rd, 2021, 12:49 pm
by ClownLoach
Super S wrote: ↑June 21st, 2021, 9:22 am
storewanderer wrote: ↑June 20th, 2021, 11:27 pm
babs wrote: ↑June 20th, 2021, 7:07 pm
Isn't calling it a "disaster" a bit extreme? I doubt most people really notice the lighting. I'm not a fan of tube lighting strips in some retail stores but it hasn't made walk out.
The Safeway lifestyle store lighting was carefully designed to make the store feel more upscale, specifically highlight certain fresh products (spotlights), and make the departments feel intimate and exclusive, but also realize energy cost savings for the stores.
I thought they were too dark and many even felt dingy, especially as certain displays started getting moved around, floors started to get shot, fixtures worn, etc.
However Albertsons took the lighting straight back to the 80's and that really was not a great thing.
All they needed to do was up the brightness in the existing Lifestyle Store lighting (keeping the same fixtures).
Safeway is a chain I normally avoid due to their pricing. With that said, I do stop in about once or twice a year. A few days ago was one of those times. I did notice that they converted the whole store to LED, but kept the same fixtures (including the cheap reflector fixtures over produce) but the main aisle fixtures did have the covers in place.
I do wonder if they are holding off on major changes until future remodels though.
It seems unclear what direction Safeway/Albertsons is going, and the COVID situation has had impacts, but I am curious if some of the features in the new Boise area stores are going to make their way into the Safeway banner stores. But I will say that a lot of the Safeway and Albertsons stores in Oregon and Washington are well over 10 years since a major remodel, many of the "Lifestyle" features have been downplayed, and the present state of many of their stores (particularly Safeway) does not justify a higher price point.
So... At the newly remodeled Seal Beach Pavilions - same thing. They yanked the reflectors off the fixtures, now they look like warehouse lights. Terrible. Everywhere else where they had spotlights they replaced with the LED light bar fixtures so the whole ceiling is mismatched. This is about a 10 year old Pavilions that was built with 100% lifestyle decor in that short time frame where they had eliminated any difference in decor for the Pavilions nameplate (basically it was a Vons with a different sign).